Q Do I need to reconcile my bank account?
A At some point you will need to reconcile your bank account, although how regularly depends upon the needs of your business.
When your software has accumulated many transactions it is often desirable to clear old transactions, usually from an old financial year, from the system.
This is achieved using the Clear Audit Trail routine. This routine will only remove transactions from the software that have been reconciled with the bank.
Therefore, even if you do not usually use the bank reconciliation option there will come a time when the reconciliation routine must be followed unless you have disabled the bank reconciliation previously.
Q Is there any way I can disable the Bank Reconciliation facility altogether?
A Yes. From the Bank Accounts window, choose the bank account you do not want to reconcile, then choose the Record option.
On the right side of the window there is a check box to enable/disable the bank reconciliation for this bank account.
This will prevent any transactions processed through this bank account from appearing on the bank reconciliation window.
Q If I disable bank reconciliation on a bank account, what happens to the transactions already on the bank reconciliation window?
A The software will remove all the transactions from the bank reconciliation window that were processed through the bank account, where no bank reconciliation has been selected.
It also changes the reconciliation flag on the audit trail to a ‘-’.
Q What are these bank flags that are constantly referred to?
A The audit trail is the central report to the whole of your Sage 50 Accounts software. Every item of information on every transaction is listed on this report.
If you print your Audit Trail you will see a column headed B for bank. This shows the reconciled status of every transaction on your system.
The entry in this column is referred to as a flag and is set to either R for reconciled, N for not reconciled, or – for not applicable.
Q What if the opening balance on my bank reconciliation is different to the bank statement?
A You must find out why there is a discrepancy and make the necessary adjustments. We recommend you view or print the bank’s transaction history from within the nominal ledger or bank ledger.
This report lists all of the transactions that have been made to and from the bank for both reconciled and unreconciled transactions; you can even specify a date range.
Compare the transactions listed in these reports with those from your last few bank statements to find any missed transactions, incorrect values or transactions that should or should not have been reconciled.
For example, if you forgot to adjust for bank charges last month then your bank balance will be incorrect by this amount and you will need to post an adjustment to enable for it.
Q I would like to reconcile all my transactions in one go, can I do this?
A You can use the Swap and Clear buttons at the right-hand side of the Bank Reconciliation window to select and de-select all of the transactions.
However, be aware that if you have a lot of transactions it may take a while before the transactions are highlighted.
Also, make sure that you really do want to reconcile all transactions.
If you use the Swap button and then click Reconcile to reconcile all of the transactions, there is no way of reversing this procedure automatically unless you have previously backed up your data.
The only alternative is to individually unreconcile each transaction.
Q I want to print out the transactions which appear on the bank reconciliation window. How do I do this?
A Only unreconciled transactions appear in the bank reconciliation list box. Once the transactions have been reconciled, they will then be removed from this window and appear on the bank statement.
To print out the required transactions, click Reports on the Bank Accounts window. You should print both the Unreconciled Payments and Unreconciled Receipts reports.
To print the list or transactions exactly as it appears on the Bank Reconciliation window, click Print at the bottom of the window.
Q On the bank statement that I have received from my bank, there is an entry for bank charges but nothing is shown on the bank reconciliation window. What should I do?
A When you choose to reconcile a bank account, the Statement Summary window appears.
The Statement Summary window is used to record information shown on your bank statement and includes a section for Account Charges and Interest Earned.
Any charges or interest not previously recorded in your accounts software, can be entered here.
If you have several charges that need to be recorded separately they should be added using the Adjustment facility.
Q I have reconciled a transaction by mistake. What can I do?
A If you have reconciled a transaction by mistake it can be corrected as follows:
1. From the Sage 50 Accounts menu bar, open the File menu and choose Maintenance.
2. From the File Maintenance window, click Corrections.
A list of your existing transactions appears.
3. Select the transaction that you want to unreconcile and click Edit.
4. Click the Amounts tab.
5. Clear the Bank Reconciled check box.
6. Click Save to save the changes that you have made and then Yes to confirm that you want to post the changes.
The next time you select Bank Reconciliation the transaction will appear on the bank reconciliation window.
Q What do I do if one of my customer’s cheques is returned unpaid?
A The cheque must still be logged on your software but should be removed from your bank account.
You will need to post a correction to cancel the cheque on your software.
Q I have entered a cheque into my program by mistake. What should I do?
A This time the cheque will be appearing in your software but not on your bank statement.
You will need to cancel the cheque using the routine outlined in the previous question.
Q My standing orders are not listed on my Bank Reconciliation window. What should I do?
A Your recurring entries, which can be used to process standing orders in your software, have probably not been processed for this month.
Therefore, although the transactions have been processed through your bank account, nothing appears on the bank reconciliation window.
